IMSA Detroit: Porsche fastest in FP1 after red flag for manhole cover fix

On the series’ debut on the tight and twisty 1.654-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Detroit, Tandy beat Nick Yelloly’s BMW and Ricky Taylor’s Acura to the fastest time in the opening 90-minute session for GTP and GTD Pro cars.

Tandy consistently set the initial pace, working down to 1m08.390s on his opening stint, as teams discovered whether their simulations agreed with reality over the bumps and hard turns that are typical of American street courses.

The best of the rest early on was Gianmaria Bruni, the ex-Minardi F1 racer getting within 0.039s in the customer Proton 963, and Felipe Nasr made it a Porsche 1-2-3.

The session was then interrupted after 26 minutes for a manhole cover to be attended to on the backstretch. It resumed after a 16-minute delay.

Connor De Phillippi #25 BMW M Hybrid V8 leapt to the top of the times with a 1m08.097s. Mathieu Jaminet took over from Tandy in the #6 and improved to within a second of De Phillippi with 1m08.193s.

The fastest time was then pipped, by 0.003s, by Filipe Albuquerque’s Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06, which unleashed 1m08.053s. That was briefly beaten by Sebastien Bourdais in the Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R, dipping into the 1m07s bracket with 1m07.976s.

Tandy reclaimed P1 inside the final 10 minutes of the session with 1m07.811s, but Ricky Taylor (in the #10 Acura for Albuquerque) beat it with 1m07.705s. Tandy wasn’t done and responded with a sequence of 1m07.558s, 1m07.242s and 1m06.899s.

Fellow Brit Yelloly took over from De Phillippi in the #25 BMW and got within six tenths of Tandy with 1m07.479s. Taylor ended up third but was eight tenths in arrears, with the #24 BMW of Philipp Eng in fourth.

Renger van der Zande graced the Turn 1 and Turn 3 run-offs on his way to fifth in the CGR Cadillac, ahead of Bruni. Jack Aitken was seventh in the Action Express-run Caddy, ahead of Dane Cameron’s #7 Porsche, Louis Deletraz (Acura) and Tijmen van der Helm (JDC Porsche).

Corvette beats Mustang in GTD Pro muscle car clash

In GTD Pro, Dirk Muller set the early pace as Ford was clearly keen to show off its new Multimatic Mustang’s abilities on a track that’s in the shadow of General Motors’ global HQ at the Renaissance Center.

But Chevrolet struck back almost immediately, with Tommy Milner taking P1 in his #4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R and it soon became a 1-2 with Antonio Garcia joining the party in the #3 sister car.

Ferrari took the top spot after the 20-minute mark, as Albert Costa produced 1m12.540s on Conquest Racing’s debut in the all-pro class, pipping Milner by 0.057s.

Milner then paid a visit to the Turn 1 run-off before rejoining and lowering his pace to 1m12.220s, which was topped by Garcia at 1m11.815s. Milner subsequently beat that with 1m11.767s, to lead the class by 0.048s.

Following the red flag for the manhole cover repair, Costa retook the class lead with 1m10.992s before Alexander Sims took over from Garcia and produced 1m10.509s.

In for Muller, Joey Hand jumped up to second in the #65 Mustang with a 1m10.846s, over a third of a second off the pace, but just ahead of Milner and Costa.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Drivers	#	Chassis	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	N. Tandy M. Jaminet Porsche Penske Motorsport	6	Porsche 963	46	1'06.899		126.459
2	C. de Phillippi N. Yelloly BMW M Team RLL	25	BMW M Hybrid V8	44	+0.580 1'07.479	0.580	125.372
3	R. Taylor F. Albuquerque Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	10	Acura ARX-06	51	+0.806 1'07.705	0.226	124.954
4	J. Krohn P. Eng BMW M Team RLL	24	BMW M Hybrid V8	45	+0.867 1'07.766	0.061	124.841
5	R. van der Zande S. Bourdais Cadillac Racing	01	Cadillac V-Series.R	44	+1.012 1'07.911	0.145	124.575
6	G. Bruni B. Viscaal Proton Competition	5	Porsche 963	56	+1.190 1'08.089	0.178	124.249
7	P. Derani J. Aitken Whelen Cadillac Racing	31	Cadillac V-Series.R	51	+1.216 1'08.115	0.026	124.202
8	D. Cameron F. Nasr Porsche Penske Motorsport	7	Porsche 963	50	+1.414 1'08.313	0.198	123.842
9	J. Taylor L. Deletraz Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti	40	Acura ARX-06	52	+2.040 1'08.939	0.626	122.717
10	T. van der Helm R. Westbrook JDC/Miller Motorsports	85	Porsche 963	46	+2.146 1'09.045	0.106	122.529
11	A. Garcia A. Sims Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	3	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	49	+3.610 1'10.509	1.464	119.985
12	J. Hand D. Muller Ford Multimatic Motorsports	65	Ford Mustang GT3	44	+3.947 1'10.846	0.337	119.414
13	T. Milner N. Catsburg Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports	4	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	52	+3.990 1'10.889	0.043	119.342
14	D. Serra A. Costa Conquest Racing	35	Ferrari 296 GT3	49	+4.093 1'10.992	0.103	119.168
15	L. Heinrich S. Priaulx AO Racing	77	Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)	52	+4.215 1'11.114	0.122	118.964
16	M. Kirchhofer O. Jarvis Pfaff Motorsports	9	McLaren 720S GT3 EVO	39	+4.297 1'11.196	0.082	118.827
17	R. Gunn A. Riberas Heart Of Racing Team	23	Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo	46	+4.583 1'11.482	0.286	118.351
18	J. Hawksworth B. Barnicoat Vasser Sullivan	14	Lexus RC F GT3	35	+4.588 1'11.487	0.005	118.343
19	H. Tincknell M. Rockenfeller Ford Multimatic Motorsports	64	Ford Mustang GT3	22	+4.805 1'11.704	0.217	117.985
20	B. Sellers M. Snow Paul Miller Racing	1	BMW M4 GT3	50	+4.810 1'11.709	0.005	117.977
21	P. Thompson F. Montecalvo Vasser Sullivan	15	Lexus RC F GT3	33	+5.447 1'12.346	0.637	116.938
View full results

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